Working Through the Pain
by Ichiban Victory
Summary: Possible spoiler from episode 8 of Slayers Evolution-R. After a near-fatal encounter with Dguld and Gduza, Amelia and Zelgadis are left to take care of themselves, massive injuries and all. My way to fill the void left by the episode!


**Author's Notes: This was my way to cope with the most recent episode of Slayers Evolution-R (episode eight) since it left Amelia and Zelgadis hanging after a vicious attack from two Mazoku. That's just cruel! I've no idea if they'll even mention what happened after the battle in the next episode, so in the meantime this is my take on it.**

_-Hurrah for missing scenes…..not even!-_

Pain was the only thing Amelia was aware of. Up until a moment ago she was having the life literally squeezed out of her courtesy of that Mazoku, Gduza, but then just like that the Mazoku had been pulled into some void, leaving Amelia in a heap.

She attempted to sit up, but she was in far too much pain to get past flexing her muscles to move. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Given that it already hurt a great deal just to breathe, Amelia had the terrible thought that she might have gotten more than just cracked ribs during the fight.

"Amelia!" Zelgadis called out from afar, "Are you alright?"

Amelia winced as she turned her head in the direction his voice had come from. About fifteen feet away Zelgadis was laying on his stomach, attempting to pull himself to her. He wasn't much better off than she was. Amelia let her head roll back to its original position, the pain of looking to Zelgadis a bit too much to bear. "I..I don't know," she answered truthfully.

Zelgadis cursed at his useless legs. He should have known better than to turn his back on Dugld! If not for his stone skin he could have very well ended up dead. He continued the agonizing chore of pulling himself closer to Amelia. Should they be attacked again, he'd rather be as close to his injured companion as possible. Amelia hadn't moved at all and it was really starting to worry him. "Can you move at all?"

Amelia attempted to do something mild like wiggle her toes, but nothing happened. Fear gripped her heart. She decided to try and move a leg, but again, nothing happened. She was still able to breathe, however painful, so that was something positive. She then willed her fingers to move, and would have breathed a sigh of relief if it hadn't hurt so bad when her hands instantly obeyed. She slowly raised her arms up.

Zelgadis finally reached her side as Amelia lifted her arms, unable to mask the smile at seeing her move. They might walk away from this battle yet.

Now that he was in her line of sight, Amelia focused in on Zelgadis. "Can you stand, Zelgadis-san?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I can't, it hurts too much. I hate to ask, but can you cast a healing spell?"

Amelia looked at her hands, which seemed eager to obey. It hurt her chest keeping her arms raised, but if she did nothing then chances were she and Zelgadis would not leave the field they were in. Lina and the others had chased after Radok and Abel what seemed forever ago, and she had no idea whether or not they were okay. Amelia clenched her fists, but instantly released them when it sent pain shooting through her.

Zelgadis was all too aware of her pain. "Amelia, just what did she do to you?" He looked her up and down, but without anything visibly jutting out where it wasn't supposed to or blood to direct him to an open wound, he couldn't tell just what was wrong with Amelia.

"M-my back," Amelia winced. "When she tried to crush me," Amelia paused to catch her breath, "I...I think something broke."

Zelgadis' eyes grew large with alarm. "Don't move, Amelia. I can't do much, but I can cast Recovery on you."

Amelia shook her head. "It won't do any good. I need to cast Resurrection, it's the only way."

Zelgadis gripped Amelia's hand, loosening it when she cried out in pain. "Amelia, no. You might injure yourself beyond what you can heal. I can't risk that."

Amelia met Zelgadis' gaze. "It'll be okay, we've been through worse than this." She looked at his hand clasping onto hers. "Zelgadis-san, I need you to help me."

Zelgadis looked at her, completely lost. "I can't cast Resurrection, Amelia, you know that." He looked at her in confusion when she gave a light laugh, but then he felt her grip his hand.

"I need you to direct my hands. I can summon the energy, but I can't move very well like this." Amelia looked back at him, pleading in her eyes. When Zelgadis gave a nod, she slowly and carefully cast Resurrection. Before long her hands did glow with the healing energy. She indicated her torso first, which Zelgadis readily complied with. He gently directed her hands where she wanted them to go. Before long Amelia took in a deep breath, letting the spell dissipate.

Zelgadis released his hold on her hands then, watching her intently.

Amelia took in a few more deep breaths before again attempting to sit up. This time her body obeyed, and she was able to sit up with little effort. She felt along her spine and ribs carefully, to make sure she'd not missed anything. She then willed her left foot to move, smiling when it did so without hesitation. She then turned to Zelgadis, but gasped when she saw his back. "Zelgadis-san!"

Zelgadis looked up at her in surprise, trying to see what she could, but he was unable to move his back without pain so he couldn't. "What is it?"

Amelia bit down on a finger to keep her emotions in check, but then she quickly scrambled over to his side, another Resurrection spell on her lips. "Don't move, Zelgadis-san, don't move at all!"

Zelgadis did as he was told, unsure why she had reacted as she did. He lay quietly until she finally stopped her spell. "What is it? Can I move yet?"

Amelia leaned back, relieved to see his back no longer flayed open as it had been. It was a wonder he had been able to move at all! She couldn't help but shudder wondering if his back had looked the same when he'd taken the brunt of Gaav's attack so many years back, but she quickly chased the image from her mind. "I don't think you want to know, Zelgadis-san." She ran her hands down his back, making sure he had no hidden injuries left.

"Amelia," Zelgadis scolded, "don't do this to me. What did you see?"

Amelia frowned. "That Mazoku. Whatever he did to you, he...he exposed the bone, Zelgadis-san." Having said this, Amelia turned her gaze to the far-off tree line, trying to fight off another shudder.

Without thinking Zelgadis reached his hand back to touch where he had been hit, but he felt nothing more than a tear in his...whoa, everything. His tunic and his cloak had been torn right through! Zelgadis' breath caught in his throat thinking what would have happened if he had been human, yet at the same time thankful that he had taken the hit instead of Amelia. He looked back to his constant companion. "I...th-thank you, Amelia." he stammered, unsure what else to say.

Amelia gave a weak smile before climbing to her feet. She held out a hand for Zelgadis to do the same, then both dusted themselves off.

"Zelgadis-san?" Amelia asked.

"Mm?" Zelgadis looked down at Amelia waiting to hear her question.

"Lets not tell Lina-san about this, okay?"

Zelgadis nodded in agreement. "If Lina found out we were taken down so easily...she'll never let us live it down. All she needs to know is that we took out the Lesser Demon threat."

"Right, we never saw anything more troubling than that." Amelia nodded.

The two then collected their belongings and chased after where they had last seen their friends, hoping all the while that they would all survive whatever mess they kept getting further and further entangled in.

_-The End?-_

**Author's Closing Notes: Still wanting to be spoiled? The two Mazoku, Gduza and Dguld were lifted straight out of the novels, and while they did cause a lot of trouble for Amelia and Zelgadis (Amelia gets her arm broken in one encounter), it was nothing to this extent! The whole episode was really dark, really… And no, Lina nor Gourry (or even Pocota) were anywhere nearby to lend a hand, as they had their hands full elsewhere. Again, I have no idea if they'll touch on how Amelia and Zelgadis managed to walk away from this last encounter. I hope they do since I'm insanely curious, but if not….well, that's why I wrote this in the first place!**

**(And yes, I really am still plotting out more of Here With Me. Promise!)**


End file.
